{Wedding Wednesday} - The Ceremony

We had a beautiful ceremony held in my parents yard. Thank you to Creations in Alexandria for helping with the decorations, my brother Chad for helping me with the signage, and my friend Laura as well!! We have so many special memories from the day and Pastor Dave did a fabulous job teaching us about marriage!!

{Friday Favorites} - February 24

1. Compass Church: The team this week has been great! They have gave of themselves to help the community and some of our partners. They painted, varnished, built, played with kids, taught, etc...The poured themselves out! It was a joy to watch them teaching at Maxo's school yesterday, to see them engaging with the students!! Thank you team for serving!!

2. James - Laura and I started the James bible study about 3 weeks ago. We couldn't have picked a better time to be going through this study! I'm so thankful God has thought about everything and given us His word to encourage us in ALL circumstances! It astounds me!

3. Sunsets - They make me happy!! They make me full! How can we not worship the great Creator!

 4. Gratitude: Since returning to Haiti after Christmas, it seems like I have been going through many trials. I will be honest and say that I have struggled. I've been struggling to find joy and to be thankful! I started reading the book "One Thousand Gifts" and I realized that I wanted to start finding joy in the trials! I started using this Gratitude book to record my 1000 gifts.

1. Morning talks with Claudy, on the phone. 

2. A hot shower in the morning. 

3. A great cup of coffee, with creamer. 

4. Groups serving the people I love. 

5. Kids jumping rope at the school with only socks on their feet. 

6. The sand between my toes at the beach. 

7. A frozen Coke

8. A 18 year old in the 5th grade - hoping to break the mold. 

9. Hearing the birds chirp on the deck, while reading God's word!

I hope you have a great week!!!

{Friday Favorites} - February 17

1. Engagement Pictures: As some of you saw a sneak peak on Facebook; Claudy and I, with the help of our friends Lauren and Laura, took engagement pictures. We found some cool spots and took some ideas from Pinterest. I must admit, they turned out great (or maybe I'm just biased). Here's a look. I'll put some more on Facebook.

This is just for fun...I only added it because Claudy loves it!!

  2. Lauren: One of my very good friends from Fort Myers (she lives in Indiana now) came to visit this week.  Thanks Lauren for taking the time to serve along side us, for being a great friend, for encouraging me and always being a friend that sharpens me!! You are doing amazing things!

3. New Horizons: Lauren is pictured with some of the kids at New Horizons Orphanage. We stopped to hang out with them. Madam Christian, who runs the orphanage with her husband, is pregnant and should be on bed rest. Please pray for them, she is only 5 months a long and needs to be laying, they have more kids than they can take care for. Pray that she will have a healthy baby, that she will stay healthy, and pray for the kids in the orphanage that they are impacting. 

4. Valentine's Day: I must say, I didn't know that they would celebrate Valentine's Day in Haiti. Claudy and I had the opportunity to spend the day together, he took me to a coffee shop, grocery shopping, bought me flowers, and then we came home, watched a movie and I cooked dinner and made his favorite Banana Pie. We had a great day!!

4. PASSION 2012: During Passion 2012, I purchased the all access pass. I have loved this, since I was unable to attend and don't get to hear many sermons in my language. One of the videos that came out this week was Chris Tomlin and others, singing "How Great is Our God" it was so moving, so I wanted to share it with you! I hope you are blessed and encouraged by the amazing God we serve, that connects us all together!

Hope you all have a blessed week!!!